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Summary

A riveting analysis of the struggle to eliminate affirmative action at the University of California.

Burning Down the House presents a riveting analysis of one of the most nationally prominent and bitterly contested policy battles in the history of American higher education: the struggle to eliminate affirmative action at the University of California. A timely and essential addition to the literature on affirmative action, it examines the political, economic, legal, and organizational factors that shaped the debate in California and offers unique insight into the contemporary politics of admissions policy, university governance, and the role of higher education in broader state and national political contests to come.

“‘The question of who belongs in elite public universities, of how the costs and benefits of those institutions should be distributed, and of who should make those essential decisions, will be contested for generations to come.’ Pusser’s timely work documents the history of this complex question even as new chapters are being composed.”  History of Education Quarterly

"This is a very detailed depiction of the complexities of higher education policymaking. The author's skill in presenting the central characters as complex individuals will attract both opponents and advocates of affirmative action."  Estela Mara Bensimon, University of Southern California

Brian Pusser is Associate Professor at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia.

Table of Contents

Figures and Tables

Acknowledgments

1. Burning Down the House: The Politics of Higher Education Policy

2. The UC Governance and Decision-Making Structure: History and Context